


The Best Men

by AidanChase



Category: The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: F/M, Percy is a Dork, Wedding Planning, jason and pipes mention, nico is a cutie
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-07
Updated: 2015-07-07
Packaged: 2018-04-08 02:55:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,430
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4288110
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AidanChase/pseuds/AidanChase
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Percy and Annabeth are totally getting married, but proposing wasn't even the hardest part. Now Percy has to choose his best man from among his best friends. It might be easier to fight a draken.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Best Men

**Author's Note:**

> Here's my first Percy Jackson fic! Wow. I had a lot of fun writing them as adults. Expect more adult demigod fics in the future. They are wonderful baby dorks and I want to see them all grow old and happy together. However Rick Riordan's style is SUPER not my own, so please please please offer me critiques and comments. I'm experimenting with Percy's voice/my writing style/Rick Riordan's sense of humor so I'd appreciate any thoughts on tone and style.

Percy Jackson chewed on his lower lip. He’d faced so many battles, so many monsters–he’d even fought the Titan Lord in New York City and defeated the giants along side the gods in Athens. But he’d always imagined, based on his relationship with Annabeth and her mother, his wedding day could very well be the most nerve-wracking day of his life.

Today was up in the running, though.

He and Annabeth weren’t married–yet. Proposing had been a nightmare of its own, which wasn’t surprising. He’d been so nervous Athena would come down and smite him that he’d dropped the ring in the water. Luckily, he was a son of Poseidon, so fishing it out hadn’t been a problem. Getting it back from the Nereid who thought he wanted to marry _her_ had been.

But now, what was really stressing him out, was that he had to talk to Jason, and it wasn’t going to be good news. Jason was coming into New York that night from New Rome, and they’d already planned their double date with Piper and Annabeth. Annabeth was thrilled, because she was going to ask Piper to be her maid of honor. Percy didn’t know how to tell Jason that Jason couldn’t be his best man.

Jason was one of Percy’s best friends, of course. They’d fought giants and goddesses together, and survived so much. Percy always knew Jason would have his back, and he knew Jason trusted him for the same. But Percy also knew he had to ask Grover to be his best man. Grover was his childhood friend who had been there for him just as much as Jason had. He had an empathy link with the guy, and you couldn’t really be better bros than that.

Still, Percy didn’t know how to tell Jason. It should be easy. “Hey, man, I really want you to be in my wedding, but Grover’s my best man. It’s not like you’re my second-best man, really, it’s just that Grover is my best friend. You're my best friend too but Grover's like my best-best friend. Not that you're less of my best friend….” But Percy didn’t know how to say it without offending Jason.

Eventually after a lot of pacing in front of the Hades cabin, Nico finally came out and asked what was wrong.

Nico had grown a little taller than Percy in the last year. But no matter how much food Will Solace stuffed into Nico, he’d managed to stay as thin as always. He was more human and solid than he had been when they were younger, but he still had a faint air of death and dying about him. Percy figured that would never go away, and he tried to tell himself that wasn’t really a bad thing. Annabeth was always telling him he smelled like the sea, like his blood ran with salt water. Nico’s probably ran with a vein of Styx.

“I really can’t imagine what could have you so worked up,” Nico said in a dry, flat voice. “There’s no quest you’re asking me to go on. is there?”

“No, I don’t even know who to talk to,” Percy paused and ran a hand through his hair. “I guess Annabeth, but she’s ah… busy, and I don’t really know–I mean, you’re Jason’s best friend, besides Le–” _Besides Leo._ It had been so long, he really shouldn’t slip up like that. But Percy was never good at accepting loss.

Nico, however, ignored his slip up. “I suppose I am as close with Jason as I am with anyone else. What happened?”

Percy poured out his struggle. He hoped Nico might understand. Nico knew Grover and Percy’s relationship. He knew Jason and Percy’s relationship. And he was a son of Hades. How different were funerals and weddings, after all?

Okay, very different, but Percy wasn’t about to ring up Hera and ask her for advice.

Nico stared at Percy, long after Percy was done. Finally, he said, “That’s really all?”

Percy nodded.

“You’re such a child.”

Honestly, Percy thought that was all Nico was going to say about it. He thought Nico would leave him with that criticism and offer no help at all. Nico was getting really good at the whole, “pausing for effect” thing.

“But I suppose you and Jason have always had a… tempestuous relationship.”

Percy remembered one time he and Jason had gotten into a fight over the placement of the goddess Tiamat’s shrine at Camp Half-Blood. It wasn’t a big deal at first, but it escalated into the first hurricane New York had seen up-close-and-personal in a long time. Percy still wasn’t sure if their eventual apology to each other was 100% real, or at least 30% Piper-induced charm-speak. He didn’t blame her if it was. They could’ve done a lot of damage.

“Yeah, when we get going we can–Wait, was that a pun? Nico di Angelo was that an honest-to-gods pun?”

Nico didn’t betray an ounce of humor. Percy wasn’t sure if growing up had made Nico more serious, or just gave him a more deadpan sense of humor (pun totally intended).

“I don’t think Jason would be offended if you told him you were making Grover your best man. I expect he’ll be involved enough with Piper being the maid of honor.”

“Or he’ll feel really left out,” Percy sighed. He knew if things were the other way around, Piper would be asking Annabeth, and Jason would probably be asking Percy. At least, Percy didn’t think there was anyone else Jason would ask.

“Are you honestly more stressed by this than you were when you proposed to Annabeth?”

“No of course not! Well–maybe a little. A lot’s at stake here.”

Nico shook his head in disbelief. “You could always ask them both.”

Percy’s forehead wrinkled. “You can’t have two best mans–best men?–Can you?”

He shrugged. “Clarisse had two maids of honor at her wedding. They’re called co-maids of honor, and I understand they’re relatively common these days.”

Percy thought about this for a moment. “And… is it okay for guys to do it too?”

Nico raised one eyebrow. “I’m really not one for strict gender roles, you know.”

Percy laughed, but when Nico didn’t even crack a smile, he let his laughter fade into an awkward breath. “I really can’t tell when you’re being funny.”

“I would think you know me better than that, after all this time.”

“Sorry.” But was that something you apologized for? Percy wondered if maybe he ought to apologize for apologizing. But then Annabeth came running up to him. She immediately linked arms and smiled at Nico, then kissed Percy’s cheek.

“Piper’s got the van ready to go pick up Jason from the airport.”

“Okay, sure,” Percy kissed her back then smiled at Nico. “Thanks for the advice.”

“My pleasure.”

Now Percy was sure Nico was being sarcastic. “Hah, hah, very funny di Angelo. Hey, by the way, you know you’re going to be in our wedding too, right?”

Nico’s face got even paler, if that was possible. “I don’t really do… weddings.”

“Aw, c’mon. It’s not that much different than a funeral, except the toasts are funnier.”

“It would mean a lot to us,” Annabeth said. “You’ve done so much for us. We want you to be a part of our celebration.”

“I suppose….” Nico paused and stared at the ground. Percy wondered if he was praying to Hades for courage. “… alright. Thank you. I am… flattered.”

Percy couldn’t tell if that was sarcasm. He decided it was, at the least, genuine gratitude. “Hey, you can wear black. It won’t be all bad.”

Now Nico smiled, just a twitch in the corner of his mouth, but Percy imagined that was the Nico version of a full guffaw. “Black suits for your groomsmen. How original.”

Annabeth tugged at his arm. “Sorry, Nico, we really do need to go get Jason. But uh, Percy, should you tell him what color the ties are going to be?”

Percy grinned. “Oh, yeah. They’re going to be orange. For Camp Half-Blood. And the girls are wearing purple chitons, for New Rome.”

Nico’s tiny smile evaporated. “I think… Piper might have a few things to say about that.”

Percy and Annabeth shrugged simultaneously and waved their goodbyes. Percy practically leaped into the back seat of the van, heart light and excited. His two best friends were going to be his best men, and Nico di Angelo was going to be in their bridal party. Getting married was awesome.


End file.
